(LEAD) N. Korea rules out talks with U.S.

▲ This file photo, captured from the homepage of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 11, 2022, shows Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister and vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) N Korea-US-talks

(LEAD) N. Korea rules out talks with U.S.

(ATTN: RECASTS throughout with details, CHANGES headline)

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Nov. 30 (Yonhap) -- The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday ruled out the possibility of resuming dialogue with the United States amid fresh tensions over Pyongyang's satellite launch.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield has said Washington continues to call for dialogue on any topicwith Pyongyang, without preconditions, and that it is up to North Korea "to make that choice" and "choose the time and the topic."

Thomas-Greenfield made the comment in a recent session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meant to discuss North Korea's launch of a spy satellite.

South Korea and the United States have condemned the satellite launch as a violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from any use of ballistic missile technology. But North Korea has defended the satellite launch as a "legitimate" exercise of its right to self-defense.

"The sovereignty of an independent state can never be an agenda item for negotiations, and therefore, the DPRK will never sit face to face with the U.S. for that purpose," Kim Yo-jong said in an English-language statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held three meetings with former U.S. President Donald Trump, but denuclearization talks remain stalled since the collapse of their Hanoi summit in February 2019.

Kim Yo-jong, the vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, also said North Korea will continue to exercise its sovereign rights, in an apparent reference to launching several more satellites within a short span of time.

North Korea said Thursday the country's military spy satellite has taken photos of U.S. military facilities in San Diego and Japan, as well as the Suez Canal in Egypt.

North Korea has claimed the spy satellite also took photos of the White House, the Pentagon, major military facilities in South Korea and the U.S. territories of Guam and Hawaii. But the North has not released related satellite photos.

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